The fire triangle is composed of three legs: appropriate fuel, adequate oxygen, and enough heat. Fuel or the material that burns, is required for combustion because it generates the combustion products. Heat or pilot source heat sustains combustion and allows it to continue. There must be enough heat to reach ignition point. Oxygen is affected by the fuel arrangement and feeds the process of combustion. When the fuel is gone, when the pilot heat source is not available, if there not enough heat, if ash builds up, or if the oxygen is limited then a leg of the triangle is broken and the fire goes out.
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Lecture & Notes
Pyne, S. (2009). Introduction To Wildland Fire. New York.
1.2. Explain the sequence of thermal stages involved in combustion from preheating and to flaming and glowing. Identify which of these steps are endothermic and which are exothermic. Burning begins with endothermic reactions that absorb energy and ends with exothermic reactions that release energy. The endothermic reactions are known as preignition, the exothermic reactions as combustion, and the point of transition as ignition.
Preignition phase is an endothermic reaction. In this phase the fuel is brought to kindling temperature by the dehydration process, in which the water in the fuel is driven
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Conduction is the transfer of heat by molecular activity from one part of a substance to another part, or between substances in contact, without appreciable movement or displacement of the substance as a whole. Convection is the transfer of heat by the movement of a gas or liquid. Heat is transferred from a hot-air furnace into the interior of a house by convection. Radiation is a form of energy called radiant energy, existing as electromagnetic waves that travel at the speed of light. Solid mass transport is when a solid mass is carried by the wind from the burned area to an unburned